Jan va Gisredde (concept)
Jan va Gisredde was a (likely apocryphal) folk-hero who Gisreddeans claim was one of Pre-Pact Gisredde's first settlers after its founding by Viceroy Inian Wisestar. Jan va Gisredde is often recounted as a humble but respected farmer in the poor villages that would become Peti Gisredde. While Gisreddeans claim the town's name comes from Jan, this is likely a story from well after Jan's unlikely life. Scholars claim that if real, his name would likely have been the then more common dng mal Girssred, a simplification of the town's name, Svergirssred (which was already a bastardization of the Gallicader Sweverg Irssraedl.)
When Mical Wisestar invaded in the Three Pier War, it is said that Jan marched into the Council of Gisredde (then ruling from a barn) and berated the wavering notables to fight. Buoyed but insulted by his stubborn words, they put him in charge of a force of ten cows, four pigs, and two very wise ravens. They jokingly named him leader of all of Gisredde's livestock and bade old Jan to fight with his animals while they gathered a militia.Tales say Jan knew of an ancient door on his lands and opened it, unleashing a 12-legged beast that Gisreddeans claim had a cow's form, a snake's tail, two dragon wings and a snout that breathed fire. Jan then led his (primarily bovine) force and flanked Mical's army while it verged on victory against the militia. Mical's soldiers cornered Jan on one of the black-stone docks, which he defended for an hour with naught but a pitch-fork before the ten cows barreled the soldiers into the sea.
The tales normally end with Jan using a piece of masonry from a broken home to lay the first stone of what would become the Palace of Gisredde, where a statue of Jan now stands proudly, pitchfork in hand with a cow sitting at his feet.